


Bluebirds in the Moonlight (You are the breathless hush of evening)

by Penelope_liz



Series: Steve Rogers never runs from a fight [1]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 1940s, 1940s slang, Alternate Universe - 1940s, Awkward Dates, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, Awkward Steve Rogers, Awkwardness, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, F/M, Fluff, Goddamn steven just for once, Jazz - Freeform, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Serum, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Has Issues, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Steve getting into fights, WW2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:36:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18900334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penelope_liz/pseuds/Penelope_liz
Summary: Steven Grant Rogers is just a kid from Brooklyn who does not like bullies, never runs from a fight and isn't able to eat toast without coughing. whats new?When a new cafe opens, just a few blocks down from their apartment, Bucky and Steve decide to eat breakfast there. Coincidentally, the reader has a few band aids in her purse.I'm just really bad with summaries but I promise, I put all my heart into this little story, making it as fluffy and as awkward as possible. Because, lets all be honest, pre-serum Steve was the cutest and especially after endgame, I needed this little comfort fic.





	Bluebirds in the Moonlight (You are the breathless hush of evening)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello reader! the following story was the product of the creativity that spontaneously struck me for th efirst time in months. As I've already mentioned, I really needed some comfort after endgame and pre-serum Steve is just the cutest!   
> Please enjoy this little piece of my imagination!
> 
> take care ya'll! stay save and enjoy <3

"Come on Steve! I'm so hungry, you wouldn't believe it."    Bucky exclaimed as they walked down the last block to the new cafe that had just opened the week before.

"Do you think that cute waitress will be there again, Steve? I really think she had something for me when we went there last time."  Bucky talked on, not really caring if Steve had  listened. But if Steve was honest, he didn't know, he didn't even remember the waitress properly. Only that she had been blocking Bucky's shameless flirting completely.

When they arrived, they were seated at a cute little table in the middle of the bright, open room. The early sun shone through the high windows that filled the whole wall towards the east.                                                                                                                                              They gave their orders, the usual for both of them. Buck had his large, black coffee with some pancakes while Steve sipped on his hot cocoa. The waitress looked at him somewhat oddly, a grown man, drinking hot cocoa for breakfast was nothing that would go unnoticed. Steve had tried it countless times, first when Bucky had started to drink coffee occasionally, to look more grown in some way. Steve had wanted to drink it, too, but poor Stevie was so sensitive to caffeine, he had just stopped trying at this point.

When a few crumbs of his dry toast were stuck in his throat, he started coughing like a madman.                                                                                                                                  "Steve, come on. Stop it already.", Bucky said, laughing and slapping on Steve's back a couple of times. Bucky still giggled when Steve had finally caught his breath again. He had actually been afraid that his fried would get an asthmatic attack once again, but he seemed to be alright. While Steve was still breathing heavily, Bucky was looking around the cafe; at some point, everybody had started to stare at the both of them, mostly on Steve though. He continued to giggle a little, this was nothing new, in all the years Steven and James had been best friends, he had gotten used to it.

In a booth, a few tables down, Y/N sat, watching the whole ordeal unfold.  The cute, small man was still having trouble breathing, and when his friend's eyes met hers, Y/n had to smile, too. She felt a little sorry for the boy, it was easy to see that he hated all the attention he was getting because of his little inconvenience with the toast. Staring down at the table in front of him, mustering his empty plate like it was the most interesting thing to exist. His tall friend had stopped looking around and continued to eat his pancakes like nothing had ever happened. When the other boy had finally stopped coughing, he looked around shortly, his gaze meeting Y/N's for a fragment of a second before awkwardly looking down at the table again. He then grabbed his mug and took another sip, he looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

As funny as this whole situation seemed to Y/N, she realized she was running late for her job as one of the first female reporters at a smaller newspaper. She stood up hastily, paying at the register and leaving quickly. She threw one last gaze back to those two young men on the table in the middle of the cafe, a small smile on her lips.

 

"That doll was really cute, wasn't she?"

"I don't know what you mean Bucky."

....

When Buck had come home that night, Steven hadn't been there. After a while, Bucky had found his friend two alleyways down from the cafe, beaten up badly by a group of men, as Steve had explained. He had told Bucky that it had been four men, Buck's size, that had been the reason why they had even stood a chance, Steve had told him. If it had only been one of them, he'd shown them what it meant to mess with him. Bucky had only shook his head and rolled his eyes as he cleaned up the cut on his friend's eyebrow and put some ice on the forming black eye.

Steven had woken up with a sour throat, glassy eyes and a bad cold the next morning, supposedly from the hour he had spent on the cold ground of a Brooklyn alley in frosty march night. The poor guy and his immune system were enemies from birth, his health failing him at the slightest inconvenience. For the next two weeks, Bucky went out after he had made breakfast for Steve, and came home later to make him some chicken soup. Steve had tried to convince Bucky of his health, only to get have his voice fail him in the middle of the sentence. And each morning, Bucky made Steve a pot of his granny's strongest remedy: some black tea with honey and lemon in it.

...

 

Meanwhile, Y/N wondered if it had been a onetime event to see them, in the cafe she stopped by every day on her way to work. Two weeks had gone by without a glimpse of even one of them, and she had even thought about the possibility of both of them enlisting. Maybe they had  gone on to New Jersey, to one of the training camps or they had even been shipped to Europe already. She had heard that they were looking for volunteers desperately, but were they desperate enough to take in the skinny boy she had met two weeks prior?

Monday morning, a little more than two weeks after she had seen the two men for the first time, she saw them again. They sat at the same table, in the middle of the small cafe and seemingly had the same orders in front of them, too. While she sat down in the same booth she sat in every morning, she felt the taller one's eyes on her. Y/N smiled when their eyes met, and giggled a little when she noticed some syrup in the corner of his mouth. With a quick, little gesture, she guided her finger towards the corner of her own mouth and then pointed towards him.

Bucky was surprised by the bold move of the dame in the booth, and licked the syrup from his finger, winking at her. When Steve caught the wink, his gaze wandered to the lady on the other table, too. Too embarrassed by Bucky's flirting, Steve once again tried to hide behind his steaming cocoa mug. And while his eyes laid on the beautiful girl, a little of the hot drink spilled over the edge of the mug, running down his fingers. He cursed a little, again blushing furiously, while Bucky and the gal began to laugh quietly.

"Come on Stevie, let's sit with this beautiful lady today."  Bucky said, before grabbing his plate and his cup of coffee and taking three large steps to cross the room.                                                   "Is this seat free?" he now asked Y/N, who still giggled and nodded slightly.           "Sure, sit down if you'd like!"

Steve looked at the girl in utter awe, her voice more beautiful and smooth than he had anticipated. He thought about how her lovely voice fitted her appearance, only to be interrupted by Bucky, once again.                                                                                      "Steve, come on. Move your lazy bum over here, you don't let a lovely gal wait!"

Steve let out a stuttering breath, that was an awesome impression the lady must've gotten from him. With another sigh, he grabbed his mug and his plate, both really carefully, and headed towards the other table.

Y/N thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with Steven and Bucky, as they had introduced themselves; even though the smaller one, Steven, barley said a word. He seemed awkward, not really enjoying the encounter with a stranger, and a little embarrassed by the flirting of his friend. He didn't seem so get the hint that Y/N tried to involve him in the chat, either. Instead, he was still tightly gripping his mug, that was now stained with drops of cocoa, with both hands and mustering the whipped cream that slowly faded into his cocoa completely. There was a fresh band aid on his right hand, that Y/N had pulled out of her purse and wrapped around his burned pointer finger.

When they said their goodbyes, Y/N had promised Bucky to meet again, and Steve had just stood at the sideline awkwardly, waving a small goodbye to her.

He guessed, he hadn't said a full sentence that morning.

....

 

When Y/N  left the building of the newspaper later than usual that night, it was dark outside, and only the street lights illuminated the streets of the city that never sleeps.

 Y/N crossed the street, her keys between the fingers of her right hand and her left, wrapped around her purse tightly. It wasn't normal for her to leave work so late but the war kept journalists busy these days. Just three streets down from the cafe she had her breakfast in, half of the way home behind her, she heard a little whimper and a deep sigh out of an alley. Y/N stopped. She had promised her parents not to get herself into situations like this, when she had first moved to New York. It was dangerous for a woman to walk around the streets alone, especially at nighttime, and she knew that this could easily be a trap to get her into the dark, making it harder to see for others. Y/N just couldn't walk past like that: what if someone needed her help for real? Also, her investigative trait, the one that got her to the newspaper and eventually into this situation in the first place, wouldn't let her walk away so easily.

She grabbed the keys tighter, each of them standing out between the knuckles; ready to defend herself, she took a deep breath and cautiously looked around the corner, only to find Steve, the cute skinny boy from the cafe, leaned on the wall, bruises and some blood all over his face and knuckles.

"Steve! Oh dear! What happened to you?"

Y/N let her keys slide into her purse quickly and stumbled forward. Steve gasped in surprise, trying to hide his bruises and the cut in his lip, he pulled up the scarf Bucky had told him to wear, still fighting his damn cold. With the last strands of his determination, Steve tried to stand up again, leaning against the wall behind him; but he fell down again. He really wanted to prove her that he was strong, too. That he was well-mannered, wanted to greet her properly. Sitting on his ass, on the cold ground in an April night, he looked up at this beautiful dame, mustering him concerned.

Y/N kneeled down beside him, pulling out a white, embroidered handkerchief from her purse and holding his chin in the other hand. She cleaned up the cut on his lip sporadically and got out a band aid from her purse once again, sticking it to one of the worse bruises on his knuckles.

"Steven, how did that happen?"

"I-.. There were those guys, a whole group of them, and they yelled something really disrespectful at one of the ladies walking by."

"Sure, but that still doesn't explain why you are sitting here, in the dirtiest corner of town, beaten up and bleeding, dear.", Y/N talked back, hoping for a more detailed explanation. Steve blushed a little at the pet name, even though he was sure that it was just an empty phrase she used with everyone.

"Someone had to tell them they were wrong talking to a lady like this, hadn't I stepped in who would've? I can't stand bullies.", Steve looked down to the ground again. He knew, he shouldn't have picked that fight, but he also knew that he'd do it again in a heartbeat.  

Y/N was torn between adoration for Steve's will and upright being, and the fact that he had just willingly taken that risk. She helped him up, Steven leaning on here for the most part of it. As soon as he stood on his two feet again, Steve tried to stand by himself again, not wanting to look weak to the first gal that had ever shown some sort of interest in him. His knees were about to give in again, when Y/N grabbed him tighter, her grip around his hip even stronger.

Slowly, the odd couple made their way through the streets of Brooklyn.

...

"This is my building.", Y/N stated, not really knowing what she expected Steve to do with the information.

"I'll get going then."

Steve tried to take a couple of steps on his own, failing badly. Y/N held him up, his arm laying around her shoulder at this point.

"I think it'd be best if you came upstairs with me."

"I can't. Oh lord, my mom raised me better than to go into an unmarried woman's apartment, let alone stay there for the night. Goodness, what would the people think? Nah, I'm gonna get going. It'll take a while but I'll get home eventually.", Steve exclaimed, again trying to take a few steps on his own.                                                                                                                      When he failed again, Y/N didn't wait for any more excuses or exclamations; she was tired, too, and she couldn't stand the thought of letting him walk all the way back to his shared apartment in this condition. Carefully, not to hurt his personal boundaries, she grasped his waist again. Steve was so skinny, she was able to feel every bone; it also made it easier to drag him up the stairs to her third floor apartment.

Sitting him down on the old love seat in her living room, she got a cold washcloth and once again, tried to clean his cuts, before eventually leaving the cold fabric on his forming bruise. She got a spare blanket out of the drawer, and showed her guest the way to the bathroom, before going to bed. It had been a long day.

Steve laid down on the little couch, still hurting a lot. Maybe, but he wouldn't ever admit that out loud, the bullies had hit harder than he thought at first.

....

 

Y/N didn't want to be a creep but she couldn't help but watch the skinny, young man sleep as soft breaths escaped his lovely pink lips. He looked utterly relaxed for the first time since she had first met him and she  was glad that he was able to sleep.                                                When Steve woke up on the next morning, Y/N had already been awake for some time. She had been in the bathroom, and was dressed already, sitting at her small kitchen table, reading that day's newspaper.

"Good mo- good morning Y/N." Steve greeted awkwardly, some blush tinting his cheeks. On hand rubbed his neck, the other was still holding onto the doorframe tightly.

Y/N looked up from her newspaper, mustering the poor man standing in her kitchen door, only dressed in his white shirt and some cotton briefs. When Steven noticed Y/N gaze and heard her slight chuckle, he was suddenly aware of his tactless actions, standing in front of a dame in his underwear was inexpedient, not suitable for an unmarried man. He slipped behind the doorframe, back into the living room, trying to hide.

"Oh lord! I'm so sorry Ms. Y/N!" his voice cracked and Y/N couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Do not worry about this Steven. You should rather get dressed so we can get out and grab some breakfast. How does this proposal sound, my dear?"

...

"Once again, I am unbelievably sorry for that ill-considered lewdness, please forgive me." , Steve mumbled when they had already walked the first three blocks down, towards the cafe in silence.

"I told you not to worry about it, dear.", Y/N answered, smiling bashfully and grabbing Steven's hand. Turning around, she made a little pirouette underneath their arms, holding Steve's hand high above her, and surprising the boy once more.

All while still walking, she looked so elegant and beautiful to Steve. He stumbled over his own feet slightly, just looking at her. Awkwardly looking down, praying once again to every deity to let the ground swallow him whole, he heard Y/N laugh, deciding then and there that this would forever be his favorite melody-                                                                                          He, too, smiled- looking Y/N in the eyes for the first time.

Arriving at the cafe, they sat down in Y/N's usual booth, ordering toast and eggs, a cocoa for Steve and a large coffee for Y/N.                                                                                                        Still giggling, Y/N and Steve began to chat; first about the weather, about how Steve never brought an umbrella, how Y/N liked the summer rain, and laying beneath her roof window, listening to all the drops falling onto the glass, acoustically accompanying the melodies of the jazz records she liked to listen to.

It felt like mere minutes. Steve had finally managed to open up. He had just told Y/N about that one time he had gone to the movies and was asked to provide his ID, when Bucky charged in, sweating, excessively cursing and with a worried look on his face.

"For god's sake, Steven! I was searching for you punk! How dare you make me so afraid! You goddamn booger!", Bucky yelled when storming into the cafe. Every single guest of the cafe turned around to look at the sudden disturbance of their peaceful breakfast.              Bucky took a few large steps towards them, leaning into the booth and holding Steve's head in a tight headlock.

"You punk!", he said once again, breathing out and discharging Steve's head out of the tight hold, not before rubbing over his hair with his knuckles, tough. He was not angry anymore, Bucky had stopped being angry when he saw his best friend sitting with the lovely gal from yesterday. Slowly, he curious glances from other guest stopped an concentrated on their food or the newspaper in front of them again.

The waitress eyed Bucky suspiciously before turning towards the cash register, counting the change in the tip glass.

"I've been looking for you for more than an hour, Steve! You left alone last night and didn't come home at all, you can't grasp how relieved I am to see you up and well, knucklehead. I checked every goddamn alley for your corpse, idiot.  Didn't I tell you not to do anything stupid?", Bucky rambled while also grabbing a piece of toast off Steve's plate and taking a bite. Steve sunk down in his seat a little, it had not been his intention to worry his best friend.

"I am unbelievably sorry for my choice of words, Ms. Y/N", he now said, leaning over the table, kissing the back of Y/N's hand quickly , before winking in her direction: "Please accept my dearest apologies, doll."

Bucky had picked up on the situation, of course he had. How often had he been in Steve's place, having breakfast or a drink with a young lady.                                                                 He knew he had barged into something, but he wanted to make Steve suffer a little, only a tiny little bit for making him worry so much. Getting himself comfortable in the booth, on the bench next to his shy best friend, he signaled the waitress to get him the usual, before starting a chat with Y/N.

While Bucky had his coffee, drinking slowly and eating even slower, Steven became smaller in the corner of the booth by the minute.  He was so embarrassed by Bucky's big entry and all the stares from around the cafe, he didn't dare to look at anything besides the insides of his mug. While Bucky and Y/N conversed animatedly, Steve stole shy glances from Y/N picking up the beautiful color of her eyes, and losing himself in them.

When Y/N needed to get  to work, Bucky had paid for all three of them before neither Steve nor Y/N had had the chance to protest. Thanking Bucky, Y/N bowed slightly, a bashful, childlike smile stretching her lips, exposing her white teeth, contrasting to the red lipstick.

In front of the cafe, standing on the small sidewalk, the three of them said their goodbyes, and while Buck actually kissed Y/N's hand and thanked her for the lovely breakfast, Steve stood once again forgotten next to the two of them.

After wishing Bucky a wonderful day, Y/N leaned over to Steve and whispered into his ear:

"Ya know darling, your friend is a real dreamboat, but I'm not interested in him."

Y/N pressed her lips onto his cheeks shortly, winking in his direction before taking off to work without sparing the two young men another glance.

...

When Y/N had come home that night, she had taken a well deserved bath, relaxing from all the stress work put on her shoulders. Later, she had laid on the couch, reading the newest Agatha Christie novel, she had just bought the week before, when the doorbell rang.

Who could that be? Ringing on her doorbell at that godforsaken time of the day?

Y/N looked out of the window, seeing poor, little, freezing Stevie standing in front of the main door.

....

 

" Oh lord, I am unbelievably sorry for this late disturbance, Bucky wouldn't let me sleep without asking you."

"Asking me what, Steve?"

"Would-... Would you care for a date with me, doll?"

...

.. "Oh, I shouldn't have asked that! I'm so sorry!"

"Wait, what are you doing? Oh father in the skies, are you going to kiss me?"

"Steve- how about you just should up?"

...

 


End file.
